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Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Your cost for the Iraq and Afghanistan war: $8,000? Wrong!

The cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could total $2.4 trillion through the next decade, or nearly $8,000 per man, woman and child in the country, according to a Congressional Budget Office estimate scheduled for release Wednesday.

According to my estimates, the Iraq and Afghanistan war from 2001 until now has been appropriated $610 b-b-b-b-illion by Congress, a mere fraction of $2.4 trillion. This is according to the same PDF report in question from the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.

$610 billion divided amongst a US population of 303,026,362 is $2,013 per person for a duration of six years.

Divide by six years (2001-now). That is about $335.50 per year or about $28 a month. That is much different than $8,000 for a decade.

Worthy of note:

"For 2008, funding for national defense is projected to absorb about 4.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). By comparison, at the peaks of the Korean and Vietnam Wars, defense absorbed, respectively, some 14.2 percent and 9.4 percent of GDP."